How to Thin Out Hair

In this day and age, it’s unnatural for someone to want to ‘thin’ their hair out. It seems that everyone is taking supplements and trying home remedies in a bid to get thicker, longer, faster-growing hair, especially with our favorite celebrities rocking a long, glossy mane on the red carpet.

There are many people out there however that are suffering at the other end of the scale. With naturally thick hair comes unmanageable hair, and you’ll often find it struggles to form into a shape, and definitely doesn’t form the shape you’re trying to make it into.

The easiest way to lose thickness if you want to learn to thin out hair is to visit a hair salon where thinning scissors and various methods can be used. On a regular basis though, this can be very expensive, especially when you consider that most hair stylists recommend a re-visit every six to eight weeks or so for maintenance work and regular re-thinning.

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do yourself when learning how to thin out hair and these are the best ways to do it….

How to Thin Out Hair

One of the easiest things you can do to thin out your hair is to rethink your style. If you have short and thick hair, it might be time to grow it out as the length and weight as it grows will help to counteract that thickness. In time, and as it grows longer, you’ll notice the hair feels less thick and will therefore be more manageable.

Bangs aren’t advisable if you have really thick hair either, unless you leave them wispy and layered at the edges. Otherwise, what you might find is that the bangs cut your face in half. If you have a round or square face, this isn’t wise, and definitely not with thick hair!

Layers can help to thin out your ‘do but this is only when they are correctly placed. If you have too many layers, you might actually end up adding bulk when you’re trying to take it away. Your hair stylist is the best person to chat to abut the right kind of layers to help thin out your hair and once you’ve established that new style, you’ll find managing your hair will be a much easier process.

You might also want to consider changing the way you wash, dry and style your hair in the mornings, and also the products and tools you use too.

Switching from hot water to cold water can help if you suffer with frizzy hair as well as thick hair. In the same way that something cold can help to reduce inflammation, cold water can also help to ‘shrink’ down your hair, making it appear and feel thinner, especially over time.

Not just that but you could also consider washing your hair less frequently than you do. When you over-wash your hair, you’re actually stripping it of the natural oils it needs in order to grow fit and healthy, and when these oils are stripped, your hair, regards of whether it is thick or thin, will be much harder to maintain and look good.

You might want to try using a different hairbrush, and also more all-natural styling and cleansing products too. When you use a shampoo, conditioner or styling product designed to combat one problem (such as dryness or damage), you can often find it brings other problems in its place. You might find that volume-adding shampoos and products create extra bulk and frizz to your hair. If this is the case, try using something like apple cider vinegar or other DIY and homemade, natural treatments in order to fight back.

For a more extreme way of managing your hair at home, you could thin it out by using thinning scissors or shears. The scissors are incredibly scary to use if you’ve never played around with them before, and it actually looks like you might cut a huge chunk out of your hair. Luckily, that’s not how they work and they actually stream out finer chunks of hair rather than gouging through handfuls of it.

“Razoring” your look is another way to help thin it out also, also this works better for men that it does for women. It’s also easier to get wrong at home. With one flick of the wrist, you could slice through more hairs than you’d intended and change the way your hair looks completely.

Although there are things you can do from the comfort of your home own when learning how to thin out hair, the easiest thing to do is watch your hair stylist. If you’re planning on using scissors or razoring techniques yourself at home, see what your hair stylist does first and get an idea of how much they cut through, etc. It’s easier to recreate something at home once you’ve seen someone do it before. You should also ask your hair stylist to suggest a different style if you’re bored of the way you’re rocking your hair now and are thinking of trying a different style to combat it.

4 COMMENTS

I have chronic migraines and as much as I’ve always wished to have long hair I have to keep my hair short because the weight of my thick hair makes my migrains worse. My hair dresser said she has only a few regulars who want thin hair.

You are right about that. I think most women want thicker hair. Some–like my niece–have hair so thick that they actually have to thin it out. I am sorry to hear about your migraines, Amanda. My sister suffers from them as well and actually has to get Botox shots to freeze the nerves.

I have a sister that has very thick, dark brown hair. She trains for marathons, and often finds that her hair can make her get really warm while training. I might have to tell her about how there are thinning scissors that can help to reduce the weight of her hair during the summer. I train for triathlons, myself, but always keep my hair short for this very reason.